Mercedes-Benz Sales Climb to New Australian Record

8 January, 2002

Sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and four-wheel drives in Australia grew by more than 26 percent in calendar year 2001 to a new all-time record of 12,042 units.

Boosted by growing demand across the Mercedes-Benz range, the company�s performance exceeded the previous year�s milestone (9,544) by 2,498 units.

The new Mercedes-Benz C-Class was one of the star performers in Australia with record sales of 4,417 units, representing an increase of 104 percent (+2,256 units) over the previous year.

Saloon and estate C-Class buyers accounted for over 36 percent of all Australian Mercedes-Benz sales in 2001, ahead of M-Class (22.8%), E-Class (12.4%) and A-Class (10.3%).

Over 450 additional C-Class units were added to the record 2001 tally thanks to the introduction of the all-new C-Class sports coup� in the second half of the year. The dynamic coup� further expanded the reach of the Mercedes-Benz brand to a new and more youthful demographic with 458 sales.

Following a model update mid-year and the introduction of a longer wheelbase variant in August, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class recorded an impressive 24.8 percent increase in sales to a new record of 1,243 units.

The popular E-Class model range also improved its sales position last year growing by 3.2 percent to 1,497 units and thanks to improving availability, CL-Class unit sales rose 10.8 percent to 82 units.

Despite increased competition in the luxury four-wheel segment, the Mercedes-Benz M-Class notched up another record year in 2001 with 2,749 units sold. The increasing popular ML 20 CDI model accounted for more than 30 percent of M-Class sales.

The growth in local demand for Mercedes-AMG vehicles was exceptional in 2001, thanks to the introduction of four new high-performance AMG models. Mercedes-AMG sales jumped 173 percent to 276 units, compared to 101 units for the previous year.

The awesome ML 55 AMG was the most popular Mercedes-AMG model in Australia (183 units) followed by the CLK 55 AMG (30 units), E 55 AMG (25 units), C 32 AMG (20 units), CL 55 AMG (10 units) and SLK 32 AMG (8 units).